Dolittle (film)

In early Victorian-era Britain, Dr. John Dolittle is a Welsh veterinarian who has the ability to communicate with animals. After his wife, Lily, dies at sea, Dolittle becomes a recluse, tending only to animals and refusing to contact or assist with other humans. One day, a boy named Tommy Stubbins accidentally shoots and wounds a squirrel named Kevin and is guided to Dolittle for help by a macaw named Polynesia (or Poly).

Meanwhile, Queen Victoria sends a girl named Lady Rose with a message: she demands Dolittle to come in order to try to cure the queen of a deadly sickness. He refuses, but after being persuaded by Poly that he has to start trying to reconnect with fellow humans, Dolittle finally decides to go. Upon reaching her, he finds that the Queen has been poisoned by a type of nightshade that was added to her tea. To be cured, she must eat one of the magical fruits of Eden from a faraway land.

After Poly, Betsy the giraffe and Tutu the fox help Tommy escape from his home, he, Dolittle, and Dolittle's crew of animals, consisting of Poly, Kevin, monkeys Elliot and Elsie, Chee-Chee the gorilla, Yoshi the polar bear, Plimpton the ostrich, Dab-Dab the duck and Mini the sugar glider, put to sail, hoping to find the cure while trying to escape Dolittle's lifelong rival, Dr. Blair Müdfly. Dolittle leaves his lurcher Jip and a walking stick behind to guard the Queen while he's traveling. Along the way, Dolittle's boat is attacked by Müdfly, but they manage to escape by attaching a harness to a whale that pulls the boat to safety.

They continue to the island where Lily was born. While attempting to steal Lily's journal which details the way to the fruit tree, Dolittle is captured by his former father-in-law King Rassouli and is locked in a cage with Barry, a moody tiger looking for his mother's approval. Just when it seems Dolittle is to be killed, a now-courageous Chee-Chee arrives and incapacitates Barry. Dolittle and Tommy escape only to lose Lily's journal to Müdfly and have their ship destroyed. After seeing a crestfallen Dolittle, Rassouli loans him a boat to honour his daughter.

Trailing Müdfly, Dolittle and company arrive at the cure tree's island, where they meet Ginko-Who-Soars, a dragon who guards the tree since her husband's death. Ginko begins attacking (even accidentally make Müdfly fall into a hole) before she collapses due to internal pain. Dolittle figures out what is hurting the dragon and proceeds to perform a dragon enema. Relieved and thankful, Ginko shows Dolittle the tree with the cure.

Dolittle's entourage returns just in time to heal the queen. Dolittle’s walking stick reveals that Lord Thomas Badgley, one of the Queen's chairmen, poisoned her in order to take the crown for himself, and was the one who ordered Müdfly to fail Dolittle's quest (who Müdfly decided to take it as an opportunity to finally beat Dolittle). The Queen has him arrested for treason, and thanks Dolittle for saving her.

Dolittle re-opens the doors to his sanctuary, now including Tommy as his official apprentice.

In a mid-credits scene, Müdfly, who had survive his fall, is trying to talk with the bats who turn around and attack him.

• Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. John Dolittle, a Welsh widowed veterinarian who has the ability to speak to animals.
• Harry Collett as Tommy Stubbins, Dolittle's self-appointed apprentice.
• Antonio Banderas as King Rassouli, the king of bandits who was Lily's father and Dolittle’s father-in-law.
• Michael Sheen as Dr. Blair Müdfly, an old schoolmate and rival of Dolittle who gradually becomes impressed by Dolittle's special ability.
• Jim Broadbent as Lord Thomas Badgley, one of the Queen's dishonest chairmen.
• Jessie Buckley as Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom
• Carmel Laniado as Lady Rose, a maid of honor to the Queen and Tommy's friend and love interest.
• Kasia Smutniak as Lily Dolittle, Dolittle's deceased wife and King Rassouli's daughter.[5]
• Ralph Ineson as Arnall Stubbins, Tommy's uncle.
• Joanna Page as Bethan Stubbins, Tommy's aunt.
• Sonny Ashbourne Serkis as Arnall Stubbins Jr., Tommy's cousin.
• Elliot Barnes-Worrell as Captain William Derrick, a British Captain Officer who follows Dr. Müdfly’s orders.

On March 20, 2017, it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. would star in The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle, a feature adaptation of Hugh Lofting's second published Dolittle book, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.[6] In December 2017, Harry Collett and Jim Broadbent were also cast, in live action roles.[7][8] In February 2018, Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen were added to the live action cast, while Tom Holland, Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, and Selena Gomez were cast to voice animals, including a tiger, bear, and a lioness.[9][10] In March 2018, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, John Cena, Rami Malek, Craig Robinson, Marion Cotillard, Frances de la Tour and Carmen Ejogo all signed on for voice roles as well.[11] The character of Regine, a lioness voiced by Ejogo, was cut from the finished film.

Principal production commenced mid-February 2018. Live-action scenes began filming in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria in May 2018, with further location filming at South Forest, Windsor Great Park and on the Menai Suspension Bridge in North West Wales, in June 2018.[12]

In April 2019, it was reported the film had undergone 21 days of re-shoots following poor test screenings. Director Jonathan Liebesman helped to oversee the filming alongside Gaghan, while Chris McKay wrote new material after it became clear from first cuts that the comedy elements of the film were not coming together as well as the producers had hoped.[2] Prior to this, Universal had turned towards Seth Rogen and Neighbors co-writer Brendan O'Brien to help add comedy to the film. However, neither could remain committed to the project and dropped out. McKay was assigned to storyboard sequences and assemble different edits before later leaving to instead direct The Tomorrow War. Liebesman took over McKay's duties and finished the film alongside Gaghan. The Lego Batman Movie scribe John Whittington had also performed rewrites on the script amid reshoots, and flew to London to meet with Downey, who allegedly tore Whittington's script apart in favor of "new ideas." The Hollywood Reporter stated that despite a "challenged production," there were no fights for power and no competing cuts for the film.[13] In August 2019, it was reported that the film's title had been changed from The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle to simply Dolittle.[14]

In January 2020, on Joe Rogan's podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, Downey Jr. discussed the inspiration for the Dr. Dolittle character in the film, which he said stemmed from a Welsh neo-pagan physician called William Price. He said, "Same way I did with Iron Man... before I signed on, I was just googling 'weirdest Welsh doctor,' I just wanted to think of, I don't want to just do another English accent.. so there was this guy called William Price, who's a nutty Welsh doctor, he was a neo-druidist, he believed that he could communicate with all nature and all that stuff, so I sent a picture of this wild looking guy wearing this kind of suit with stars on it and like a staff in his hand [to Gaghan]... and he goes, "That looks good to me" and I was like "great let's do this movie.""[15]

Music artist Sia performed a new song of hers, "Original," for the end credits, while Danny Elfman composed the film's score.[16]

The film was released by Universal Pictures. It was originally set for May 24, 2019, but was moved to April 12, 2019, to avoid competition with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which itself was later moved from May to December 20, 2019. The film was later moved again to January 17, 2020.[17]

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